A phenomenological model to describe turbulent friction in permeable-wall flows

Abstract

Describing the canonical properties of turbulent flows over rough-permeable walls such as gravel beds, vegetatedor snow-covered surfaces have, to date, resisted complete theoretical treatment. The major complication in describing such geophysical flows is that the friction factor - Reynolds number relationships significantly deviate from their conventional Nikuradse curves or Moody diagrams derived over impermeable rough boundaries. A novel phenomenological model that describes such anomalous behavior is proposed. It expands the approach in Gioia and Chakraborty (2006) developed for rough-impermeable pipes to include finite velocity effects within the porous wall and canonical length scales governing the momentum exchanges between interstitial and superficial flows. © 2012. American Geophysical Union.